Distance Longs for Presence

A strum of the guitar accompanied by light piano playing softly fills the room. A voice sweetly sings,

"Come Holy Spirit we need you.

Come sweet Spirit we pray.

Come in your strength and your power.

Come in your own special way."

I sing along and my heart is moved by the beauty of the music. It's a special moment but as I reflect on the words I realise I don’t really know what I'm singing. 

“If God is omnipresent what does it mean to ask for Him to come? Isn’t He already here and everywhere all at the same time?”

If you've read some of my previous posts you'll have gathered by now that "le boo" and I are an item (or whatever they call it these days). He's in New York and I'm in London so quite naturally I miss him. Yes, we engage in every-day-face-time as my little sister puts it. I hear his voice and see his face through a computer screen but there's absolutely nothing like being in his presence. He exists! This I know for sure. We commune! This I experience for sure but I long for his manifested presence; to be in the same room; to put my hand in his. It's a totally different experience. I experience him on a daily basis through a dimension that is short of what I know is possible and I want all that is possible. No, 2-D over airwaves won't do. As a natural response I long for that other dimension that I know is possible.

I believe that's what it means to ask for God to come. He exists, sure! I commune with Him, sure! But the depths of my spirit long for his manifested presence. That is what love does. It longs to be in the presence of the one whom it loves. It's not enough to know the person is there. No! It wants to feel their presence, as just knowing they are there is not enough, in much the same way every-day-face-time is not enough.  

I get it now. My spirit wants to "feel" God's presence. I long for that other dimension I know is possible. I've caught glimpses of it and I want it all. I believe there's a myriad of ways this can happen. Sometimes it will be weird. Other times it will be emotional. Sometimes it will be hysterical and other times simply other-worldy. However it manifests itself, His presence is always sweet because I'm with the one I love.

So I sing, "

Holy Spirit you are welcome here.

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.

Your glory God is what my heart longs for;

To be overcome by your presence Lord."